


The Most Important Time of Day

by plutosrose



Series: Stucky Bingo 2020 [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Hospital, M/M, Missing Scene, Natasha is protective, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25297072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plutosrose/pseuds/plutosrose
Summary: After the helicarriers fall, Steve gets an unexpected visitor in the hospital.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov
Series: Stucky Bingo 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830826
Comments: 7
Kudos: 88
Collections: Stucky Bingo 2020





	The Most Important Time of Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the Stucky Bingo prompt "Breakfast."

Steve’s favorite part about being in the hospital was that the breakfast always arrived at 7:30 a.m. on the dot.

Sam had teased him relentlessly when he’d mentioned on his second day in the hospital that he was excited about breakfast (“Okay Grandpa Steve. Did every foot you fell add like a year to your life or something?”). 

It was the kind of mundane routine that he’d been craving these past few weeks that he hadn’t known he was craving until he’d plummeted straight into the Potomac from approximately a thousand feet in the sky (he was guessing, and really was it so wrong that part of him was actually hoping it had been about a thousand feet in the sky?) and been sidelined for the foreseeable future.

Well, two weeks really, according to the doctors that had been coming in and out of his hospital room over the past couple of days. They’d wanted him to stay longer, but Natasha had put a stop to that once she’d overheard one of the doctors mention which journal they were going to submit their article about him to.

But regardless of how long he’d be spending in the hospital, he was no longer working for SHIELD, and that meant that he was free to determine his own routines. Think about what it was that he wanted to do. Keep his promise to Peggy that he would actually go out and have a life of his own.

And the first step was enjoying breakfast every morning. Yes, hospital food hadn’t improved in about eighty years, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t any less determined to make the best of the situation. 

And hell, the nurse last night (Rachel or Rebecca? He couldn’t keep their names straight in his head in between the naps he was taking, but from all the smiling and blushing he suspected that maybe they would have forgiven him) had told him in confidence that she’d try to get him some of the _nice_ french toast. He wasn’t entirely clear on what that meant, but from the way that she’d whispered it to him, it had seemed like it was pretty special.

He’d grown accustomed to having doctors and nurses coming in and out of his room at all hours, (even though he was fairly certain that Natasha _had_ restricted access to his room - he was beginning to suspect that she never slept, ever), so when the door opened again, he was still relaxed against the pillows on his bed.

“So what’s so special about this fren--”

He paused and looked up, because it wasn’t the nurse from the night before, or even a nurse that had opened the door to his room. 

“Bucky?” he breathed, sitting up a little straighter in his hospital bed, even though it made him wince in pain. A doctor in no uncertain terms had told him that if he’d been anyone else, his spine would have snapped clean in half from the fall. 

There was no mistaking him, even if he wasn’t wearing the tactical gear that he had been on the helicarrier. His hair was swept underneath a baseball cap, and he was wearing a hoodie and jeans. He looked like anyone else.

“How did you get past Natasha?” Nat had been by the door almost continuously over the past few days. If she’d left, it was likely only for a few minutes. Unless she had actually left to - go home and sleep, but that seemed so distressing normal that Steve dismissed the possibility out of hand.

The last thing that he wanted in that moment was for Nat and whatever remained of SHIELD to bust down the door and take the “Winter Soldier” in when he looked about as dangerous as...well, he’d been sleeping a lot. His brain felt like it was full of cotton. He’d have to think of a good analogy later. 

Bucky took a few cautious steps closer, keeping a healthy distance between the two of them. He hated it. “You said my name was James Buchanan Barnes.”

Steve took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, it is.” His eyes were wide as he tried to take in every detail about him. Even though he was standing right there in front of him, he seemed so ephemeral that he found himself suddenly fearing that he might literally disappear in front of him. 

“How do you know that?”

Bucky’s eyes were searching his face, and if Steve had to guess, were looking for some evidence that he might be lying.

“Because I’ve known you your whole life, Buck.”

Bucky shook his head. “I don’t remember you.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You do.”

It was a little more insistent than he’d meant to say it, but the fact remained that - on some level, at least - Bucky remembered him. He never would have stopped hitting him if he didn’t. 

Bucky squeezed his eyes shut. Steve braced himself for a denial. 

“Everything is mixed up in my head,” he murmured, gaze fixed at some point outside of the window in his room. “I don’t know what year it is. Everything’s different. I don’t understand why it’s different.” 

That tone - sounding completely overwhelmed and anxious - made Steve furrow his brow and his heart sink in his chest. How did he even begin to explain that everything actually _was_ different? “It will be okay, Buck.” 

“Will it?” 

Steve’s heart sank. Truthfully, he didn’t know. All of a sudden, he felt itchy and impatient at the fact that he was still stuck in a hospital bed. Super serum his ass.

“I don’t know what will happen,” Steve admitted quietly. Bucky continued to stare at that same point outside the window.

“I did things,” Bucky murmured under his breath, finally making eye contact with him. “I remember doing them.”

“What things?”

“Bad things.” He furrowed his brow. “There was blood. A lot of people died. I remember them all. All of them. They died. Because of me.” 

More than two dozen assassinations, Steve reminded himself, but it was hard to square that with the man who was standing in front of him, who was pacing back and forth, fidgeting, and looking as though he’d bolt at a loud noise. 

“That wasn’t you, Buck. We can help you--” Steve started, but as soon as he’d opened his mouth, he stopped, uncertain of what he was promising. The American government had nearly authorized Project Insight - were they really going to let the man who was the Winter Soldier go that easily? Hell, would Nat or Sam trust him?

Fuck, he really had to get out of here. Demanding he stay in the hospital for two weeks was downright criminal.

“I need to...figure things out. I need to see my name. Remember something, I don’t know.”

It hadn’t, up until that point, really occurred to him that there could have been gaps in what Bucky remembered about himself and about him. About the life they’d shared together in that shitty Brooklyn walk-up. 

And oddly enough, entertaining the idea that there might be gaps permanently was not as painful as what Bucky was implying.

“Please don’t leave.”

His voice caught and his fingers curled in his sheets. “I already lost you once, I can’t lose you again.” 

“If you did know me,” Bucky said, taking a few steps closer. There was recognition in his tone, Steve thought. Something that said _Even though you did._ “You’re not going to want to. Not anymore.” 

“That’s not true,” he snapped, but Bucky shook his head. 

He turned to disappear into the hallway, before Steve had one of the clearest thoughts he’d had in days. 

“Wait.”

Bucky paused by the door. “I only have about thirty seconds before the redhead can see me again.”

“Smithsonian. Air and Space Museum. It’s not that far from here.” In super soldier running distance, it was probably only five minutes or so away. “There’s an exhibit about me. And you’re in it too. Maybe it will help.” 

Bucky nodded, before disappearing back in the hallway as quickly as he’d appeared.

As Steve started to drift off to sleep again, he wondered if he’d imagined the entire thing. He hoped he hadn’t - because if it was real, he might have just created a way to pick up Bucky’s trail again.

**Author's Note:**

> The Most Important Time of Day   
> Creator(s): plutosrose  
> Card number: 012  
> Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25297072  
> Square filled: A1, Breakfast   
> Rating: T  
> Archive warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply   
> Major tags: Missing Scene, Natasha is protective, Hospital, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier   
> Summary: After the helicarriers fall, Steve gets an unexpected visitor in the hospital.  
> Word count: 1,396


End file.
